Seeing!

September 13th, 2025| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

You wanna be able to see in total darkness? Without night vision devices? Now you can.

And scientists from University of Science and Technology of China (Hefei), Fudan University (Shanghai), and University of Massachusetts (Worcester) tell you how. In “Near-Infrared Spatiotemporal Color Vision in Humans Enabled by Upconversion Contact Lenses, published in the prestigious journal, Cell, a couple months ago.

Yeah, well, almost without night vision devices, since special contacts are used here—transparent contact lenses that convert invisible infrared light into visible colors, allowing humans to see heat signatures and infrared patterns that appear blank to the naked, unassisted eye.

These special contacts—that you can’t buy at the mall, sadly—are embedded with microscopic particles—“upconversion nanoparticles” that absorb low-energy infrared light and emit higher-energy visible light, thereby converting infrared radiation into visible light. Unlike traditional night-vision goggles that produces grainy green images, these lenses create sharp, colorful visuals that work seamlessly alongside normal eyesight in any lighting condition. Even with those nanoparticles embedded, those lenses are more than 90% transparent.

Of course, they needed to test them. Mice to the rescue. And those rodents were able to distinguish between patterns made with infrared light. In fact, when the animals’ eyes were closed, they could still detect infrared patterns through their eyelids—a feat not possible with visible light (that does not penetrate skin to any great extent, unlike infrared light that can, at least more than light of other wavelengths). In fact, they could “see” better that way!

Explained senior author Dr. Tian Xue, a neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology of China:

It’s totally clear cut: without the contact lenses, the subject cannot see anything, but when they put them on, they can clearly see the flickering of the infrared light. We also found that when the subject closes their eyes, they’re even better able to receive this flickering information, because near-infrared light penetrates the eyelid more effectively than visible light, so there is less interference from visible light.”

Now to humans. 15 healthy participants, 18 to 40, successfully identified infrared light sources, and decoded simple messages sent through infrared pulses. The lenses worked in both dark and well-lit environments, showing potential for use in a range of real-world conditions.

Concluded Xue:

Our research opens up the potential for non-invasive wearable devices to give people super-vision.”

“Super vision”!

Really, there is only one Person with super vision! Listen to Psalm 11 …

In dire darkness when the depredators are destroying the upright with deception, certain cynical advisors of the psalmist advise him to give up hope in God and flee.

In Yahweh I have taken refuge; how can you say to my soul,
“Flee your mountain, bird. For, behold, the wicked draw the bow,
they have taken aim, their arrow on the bowstring,
to shoot in darkness at the upright of heart.
If the foundations are destroyed, the righteous one, what can he do?”
Psalm 11:1–3

The psalmist protests: there is always hope in a God who sees.

Yahweh in His holy temple—Yahweh on His heavenly throne—
His eyes see, His eyelids try the children of humanity.
Yahweh—He tries the righteous one and the wicked,
and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
Upon the wicked may He rain fire and brimstone,
and [may] a raging wind [be] the portion of their cup.
Psalm 11:4–6

And then the twist …

For Yahweh [is] righteous, righteousness He loves; the upright will see His face.
Psalm 11:7

What better to see than God’s face!

SOURCE: Study Finds; Cell